The rumours and word on the street first said Gyukaku. Then Gyubee.
The signs are up at Richmond’s Lansdowne Centre now, and both guesses were close, but not quite right.
Taking the unit is Sangoku, an all-you-can-eat Japanese yakiniku brand, and it does belong to Gyubee.
Noms Mag community member Mathew spotted the signage first up at the previous Happy Lamb Hot Pot unit, which closed in July.
We were already headed to T&T that night, so we walked over after dinner to shoot it.
Inside the mall there is now a huge black and white signage across the entrance, with a flame-lit grill photo.
Outside on the brick, four backlit panels. Premium Japanese BBQ. All you can eat. Perfecting flavour over fire.
Then I looked through the gap beside the doors.
The room has been GUTTED down to bare studs and vapour barrier, with two piles of dirt sitting on the concrete and rubble spread across the floor.
No opening date is posted anywhere, and looking at that state of demolition, I would not expect anything before November.
The Gyubee connection is the part I think most people will care about.
Gyubee opened its first BC location in October 2024, at 8100 Ackroyd Road in the old DaTang BBQ unit.
It has stayed very busy since it opened, with 1 – 2 hour waits on the weekends.
Sangoku is the newer and more “premium” of the two, which opened in Markham, Ontario this summer.
Richmond would be its second location and its first outside Ontario, and it is not on the company’s own locations page yet.
Diners at the Markham room describe a menu that goes past what Gyubee runs, with all you can eat sushi, hot stone bibimbap, stone-grilled hamburg steak, wagyu carpaccio and cubed beef ribs alongside the grill.
The company’s own pitch is premium wagyu rather than volume.
Sangoku joins a list of upcoming Richmond spots including Dolan Restaurant, No. 1 Beef Kitchen, and Mr. Noodle Chen.
For more new and upcoming food spots in Metro Vancouver, take a peek at our tracker here, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
Address: 405-5300 No. 3 Road, Richmond, BC
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